You are not sure what is happening. You cannot complain. Actually, you feel lucky. You got promoted. You're earning more money. So why are you unhappy?
" I lost my drive".
"My company values have changed".
"I want to do something more meaningful." This is what I hear from clients.
Usually where there is no alignment between "who I am and what I do ", the compromise we are trying to make is just too costly. It affects what we hold more dear: our more profound convictions and beliefs. We call these psycho-spiritual stressors.
We have identified six influencers: Psycho-spiritual, Mental, Emotional, Physical, Social and Environmental. Each in itself with the power of creating havoc in our lives. We try to ignore them, but in the long run, we cannot cheat it. If we can identify the stressor and how they impact our lives, we can make adjustments.Take for example Physical stressors, the ones we are probably all familiar with. We can feel their force when we haven't slept well or caught a cold, for example. Other influencers can be less obvious and more difficult to spot.
Here we will start with the first the Psycho-Spiritual, the one we encounter when what we do makes us question our values, purpose or goals. This influencer can affect our lives in the most powerful way because it creates a disconnect between the brain -our logical site - the heart - our values and the gut - our core identity. So while our heart is telling us there is something wrong, our brain is working hard to find a possible new alignment between our beliefs and the situation we are facing. If the message cannot get through we find it impossible to swallow the "bitter pill". After spending sleepless nights unable to find a way to get to an answer we end up, tired and exhausted we run the risk to drift into a depressed state.
What can we do? The change starts by making a list. I ask my clients to identify first their Purpose and Mission. ( "What would you like to be remembered for? "). They can then move to develop a Vision - a detailed image of how they want their life to be and identify Values and Drivers -what motivates them. When we get to the core of who we are and where we want to go, we feel more grounded and much stronger in our decision process.
Why don't you try for yourself?